Murder Before Marriage

by Raven Snow

  Ben nodded his approval. “That would be great.”

  “I can’t promise anything. My dad tried to avoid me, and I don’t really know Gaby all that well. Either way, I’ll see what I can do.”

  ***

  As it turned out, Rowen couldn’t do a whole lot. She did manage to get in touch with her father and Gaby, though it took going through Coreen. Even then Gaby hadn’t been eager to rush on down to the police station as soon as she heard the news. Then again it was so hard to get in touch with them that it was Coreen who broke the news, so Rowen didn’t get to see how Gaby had taken it.

  “Desmond told her,” Coreen relayed to her sister. “I heard them talking in the background. Gaby mostly just sounded annoyed.”

  “Sounds like he’s marrying a real winner.” Rowen supposed she shouldn’t complain. At least this was another indicator that Desmond wasn’t marrying an innocent. If anything, this suggested that they deserved each other.

  “She said she would go down to the police station at a more reasonable hour or wait for someone to properly call her.” Rowen glanced at the clock on the wall. It looked like a reasonable hour to her. The sun was up outside at any rate. Kyle was someone who worked for her. It seemed to Rowen that Gaby should be throwing on her clothes and rushing for the door. Ah, well. Rowen tried to push all that from her mind. It wasn’t her concern. Either Gaby would go down on her own or the police would call her eventually.

  What was one of Rowen’s primary concerns was Peony. She hadn’t seen Peony since hearing about the murder. She desperately wanted to see her cousin, to hug her, to ask if everything was okay. Obviously everything wasn’t okay, but she still felt that nagging need to ask.

  Rowen was standing in the parking lot of the police station with Rose when Peony finally emerged. Rose was methodically going through what they should do next. Margo had at long last gotten a move on and was with Channel 2 even as they spoke. Rose didn’t know how her talks with Julia Martinez were going. Hopefully it was all going well. Rose was just moving on to how they should divide up articles and the conducting of interviews when the doors to the police station swung open and Peony stepped out. She looked terribly pale. Willow flanked her, nearly shoulder to shoulder with her sister. Even from across the parking lot, Willow’s concern was easy to read. She was hovering so close it was a wonder they didn’t trip over each other.

  Rowen and Rose headed for Peony. They all met up at Willow’s car. “What happened?” asked Rowen. It was the first thing that came to mind.

  Peony looked up at her cousin, eyes wide. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. She didn’t know what to say or how to say it. Perhaps that had been too broad of a question.

  “Is Tina still inside?” Rose asked, narrowing things down a bit.

  Peony glanced back at the police station. “Yeah,” she said, the frown on her face suggesting she didn’t much like that fact. “She’s with her parents right now. They don’t know about us, so I figured it was better to just give them their space.”

  “That was probably the right call,” Rowen said, though she noted that Peony still looked uncertain, gaze still lingering on the front doors to the police station. “You said she’s with her parents?”

  Peony nodded. “She didn’t really talk to me much after they let them see each other.” Her face colored almost as soon as the words had left her mouth. “Not that that shouldn’t have been the case. I mean, obviously they’re her parents and all. This is a lot harder for all of them than…” Peony trailed off. Her gaze had left the front of the police station. She was staring at her own feet.

  “You still want to be with her,” said Rowen. It wasn’t a question. She could tell. She would feel the same if it was Eric.

  “You’re doing all you can.” Eric offered Peony a smile which she returned albeit in a very fatigued manner. “Someone should take you home, let you get some sleep.”

  “I don’t think I could sleep right now even if I wanted to,” said Peony. She was yawning when she said it, though, which undermined things a bit.

  “I bet Mom and Nadine are worried sick,” said Rose, her eyes growing large as she spoke. She pulled out her own cellphone and checked the face of it. Rowen did the same. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t missed a call from her aunts in all this time.

  “I called them,” said Willow. “I told them Peony was spending the night at my place.” She turned to her sister next. “Which is where we can go next, by the way. We both need some sleep, I think. You might not feel like it, but I’m pretty sure I could sleep for a week.”

  “They won’t be happy you lied to them,” Peony mumbled. She was right. They wouldn’t like having this kept from them. The truth would inevitably come out before too long.

  “I’ll deal with it when the time comes.” Willow waved a hand like that didn’t bother her any. “Go on. Get in. Tina is fine for now. You can check in on her when you wake up.”

  Peony was chewing on her bottom lip. She clearly didn’t like her sister’s plan, but she nodded anyway. Rowen gave her a quick hug before she could get in the car. “You call us if you need us, okay?”

  Rose swooped in for a hug as soon as Rowen pulled away. “It should go without saying, but don’t worry about work. We can cover for you.”

  Peony returned the hug but shook her head at the offer. “I don’t think so. I kinda want something to do, you know? I think I might go insane otherwise.”

  “Fair enough.” Rose clearly had no intention of arguing with her. “We’ll support you in whatever way we can.”

  It wasn’t until Peony had climbed into the car and Willow had pulled away onto the road that Rowen turned to Rose. “So what is our next course of action?”

  Rose sighed, the sound long and low. “We wait,” she said. “As much as I hate to say it, there’s not a whole lot else we can do.”

  Chapter Nine

  Rose had been correct when she had said the obvious. There wasn’t a whole lot to be done. Making a move felt like a misstep. Doing anything would undo a lot of the work Margo was doing. It would be shooting a starting pistol. Every reporter in Lainswich would be scrambling as fast as they could, trying to get as many answers as possible. Peony wouldn’t appreciate that. It would almost certainly cause Tina and her family a great deal of pain. Rowen couldn’t imagine what it was like to lose a son. She had only been aware that she had a sister for a few months, but she couldn’t imagine losing her either. They were going through a lot. They needed time to grieve. At the very least they needed a day or two to themselves before the news-hungry public descended.

  That wasn’t to say there wasn’t anything to report. The death made news even if the details didn’t. It was with a great degree of reluctance that Julia Martinez agreed to keep names out of the paper. Rowen wasn’t sure why she was dragging her feet. She got to add a little “out of respect for the families” in there. It made Channel 2 look good.

  Rowen added one of those “out of respect for the families” to a story of her own. She did her best to touch on the facts and only the facts. She left a lot out, including her own family’s involvement. There wasn’t a lot of meat to the story, but views on their blog spiked anyway. People around Lainswich were desperate for their gossip, even if it didn’t tell them a whole lot more than what they already knew.

  Rowen couldn’t blame them. Not entirely. She had questions of her own, and those needed answering. It was around lunch time when she decided to give speaking with Gaby another go.

  Rowen wasted no time at all. She pulled Coreen aside first since she was at the Inquirer. As it turned out, it was a good thing they had hired her on when they did. It was a busy news week and Peony and Willow weren’t at work. Coreen still didn’t know her way around the job all that well but having her was worlds better than nothing. She could make copies and proofread and make coffee runs when needed. That alone made a world of difference.

  “I kind of need one of you here,” Rose pointed out when Rowen came to her
with her plans.

  “I finished that one article. You saw it. I’m not sure what else there is to say about all of this. Talking to Gaby on the other hand… Well, I really do think I could make some headway there.”

  Rose steepled her fingers on her desk. A frown creased her soft features. “If you leave and take Coreen, that means I’m all alone here.”

  “Right, but we’ll be back as soon as we can,” Rowen added quickly. Not that Rose didn’t have a solid point. Leaving her alone at the Lainswich Inquirer really did feel like a bad idea, but what choice did Rowen have? “I need Coreen with me if I want to talk to Desmond or Gabby. It’s impossible to get a hold of them any other way.”

  “Why?”

  Rowen shrugged. “Well, I think Desmond just likes to avoid trouble. I don’t know for sure, but I think he’ll be avoiding me today. If Gaby’s with him, I can only imagine she’ll be doing the same.”

  “And if they’re with the police?”

  “Then we’ll come right back!”

  Rose sighed. Her eyes darted to her computer screen, perhaps checking the time. “Fine,” she relented. “But come back as soon as you possibly can.”

  “Thanks. I really appreciate this.”

  Rose shook her head. “I’m not just thinking of the paper. I… It’s more important that we get answers. So come back as soon as you can, but also… Try to figure this out, okay?”

  Rowen nodded. “I’ll do my best,” she assured Rose, like she had ever planned on doing anything less.

  ***

  Coreen went along without complaint. “I don’t mind doing this, but those two are going to grow wise sooner or later. Desmond will catch on.”

  “Then we’ll just have to think of something else by then.” Rowen couldn’t help but be annoyed that she still had to use Coreen to get her foot in the door with Desmond. Desmond wasn’t averse to speaking with the more estranged of his daughters. It was only that he always wanted to do it on his own terms. Rowen asking for a moment alone with him usually meant trouble. Meanwhile, Coreen met with him often and for all sorts of reasons.

  Rowen had gone ahead and called Ben to make sure her speaking with Gaby was okay. He had assured her that it was. They had been called in for questioning earlier, though he wouldn’t go over the specifics of it with her. That had been the other thing Rowen was calling about. She wanted to make sure that Gaby wasn’t at the police station when she came calling. That would render the entire trip pointless.

  “They’re at some country club,” Coreen had relayed to Rowen after hanging up her cell phone.

  Rowen groaned. They were already parked outside of the hotel, but of course it couldn’t have been that easy. “There’s only one country club in Lainswich.” Rowen programmed the directions into her GPS. She had been to the club before. It was full of snooty people and overpriced lunches, but she was fairly certain she could get them in. “Did you tell him we were coming?”

  “No, only that I wanted him to call me back once they were finished there.”

  Rowen nodded. “Good. Maybe they won’t see us coming then.”

  ***

  Lainswich’s only country club was a large, fine-looking establishment. The main building was large and behind it was a long stretch of green for golfing. It didn’t much look like a place where Rowen would be allowed to barge in and wander about as she wished, but Rowen felt fairly good about the chances of her getting past the front door. She had uncovered a cult there once. Discovering a cult more or less gave you free reign of a place. At least, that’s how Rowen hoped that worked. Truth be told, she didn’t look much like someone who would be allowed in a club that afternoon.

  Rowen hadn’t changed since rushing down to the police station that very morning. She was wearing a pair of jeans, something no one else appeared to be wearing, not as far as she could see. “Do you have a membership here?” Coreen asked, apparently having her doubts now that they were about to try and enter the club. “We could always wait in the parking lot. I think I see their car. We could park alongside them.”

  Rowen shook her head. “Rose needs us. I’m not going to waste all that time waiting around for them.”

  “I could call Desmond. I could see if he’ll come out and meet us.”

  Again, Rowen shook her head. “They’ll let me in,” she said, perhaps with a little more confidence than she actually had. “If nothing else I can always namedrop a friend.” She did have more than one friend who frequented this very club. Maybe she could call in a favor.

  “It’s your call,” Coreen said with a shrug. She fell in behind her sister, giving her the indication that she could take the lead from there on out.

  It didn’t take long at all for someone at the front of the club to intercept Rowen. A middle-aged man in dress pants stepped in front of them at the entrance. There was a smile on his face, but his eyes were a little wide, a little frightened. He didn’t have to turn too many people away. Generally, if you walked into a country club, you knew you were supposed to be there. Heck, the place had a gate. Rowen had only gotten in based on a lie. It didn’t take more than a second glance to confirm that she was not Lucy Odele. Heck, on first glance it was easy to tell she wasn’t Lucy Odele. She wasn’t a wealthy old woman with flaming red hair. That alone would tip people off.

  Rowen smiled back at the man. She wasn’t planning on backing down. “Oh, don’t worry about us. We’re just here to meet someone then we’ll be on our way.”

  The man looked from Rowen to Coreen then back again. He took a deep breath. “My apologies, but I really can’t let anyone without a membership just—”

  “I’m Rowen Greensmith. This is my sister, Coreen.” Rowen motioned over her shoulder, but the man blocking their way didn’t seem to be listening by that point. His expression had grown just a little more frightened at the mention of Rowen’s name. Finding out about your town’s local cult did carry some heft then.

  “I’m sorry, but…” The man trailed off as he looked Rowen up and down. “We do have a strict dress code here, and—”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Rowen flashed the man a smile. “We won’t be here long at all.” Before he could object, Rowen pressed deeper into the club.

  “Ma’am,” the man called after her. “Ma’am?” He didn’t raise his voice. It was doubtful he wanted to call any attention to what was going on.

  “He’s going to come after us,” said Coreen, hurrying after her sister anyway.

  “I doubt it.” Rowen spared only the quickest of glances over her shoulder. She saw that he was already headed for the phone behind the front desk. “More likely he’s calling security now to try and discreetly get us out of here.”

  “Maybe it would have been easier to just swing by your place and throw on a change of clothes.”

  “Oh, where’s the fun in that?” Rowen scanned their surroundings for any sign of her father or Gaby. She didn’t mention that she liked their odds better dressed as they were now. This way Desmond and Gaby couldn’t stall. If Rowen found them and if she played her cards right, they would all get kicked out together. “Does Desmond play golf?”

  “Only if he’s around other people. Like if he’s trying to close some sort of deal or something. He wouldn’t be playing with just Gaby, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

  “They’re probably eating lunch then.” That would make things much easier. Rowen headed toward the dining area tables near the windows. An entire side of the building was done all in glass. It made for a lovely view of the golf course. Given that there weren’t any scratches on it, it must have been sturdier than it looked. Rowen could see out onto the patio, out to where Desmond was sitting across from Gaby. He had a steak in front of him, and she was sipping from a little drink with a pink umbrella in it.

  “There they are.” Rowen pointed them both out to Coreen before making her way outside.

  It was Gaby who first spotted Rowen and Coreen approaching. She raised her sparse eyebrows as she sipped thr
ough her straw. That prompted Desmond to look back. There was a moment where the annoyance flitted across his features. He looked both his daughters up and down. They were drawing quite a few furtive glances by this point. It was plain to see that they were there, largely, to cause trouble.

  “This is a surprise,” said Desmond, his tone measured. He looked to Coreen. “I thought I said Gaby and I would call you as soon as we were finished here.”

  Coreen nodded. “You did, but Rowen said that this was urgent. Besides, we were in the area anyway.”

  “I’m not sure what we can tell you that we couldn’t thirty minutes from now,” said Gaby, her gaze lingering on Rowen’s attire. She nudged her drink aside. There was an unmistakable look of distaste on her face. She was more annoyed by all of this than even Desmond.

  “My apologies.” A man in formal clothing came to the table. His hands were clasped behind his back. It wasn’t the same man who had tried to stop them at the door, but he had the same nervous look about him. “We have a very strict dress code here. I hate to ask, but… I’ll need the both of you to leave until—”

  Rowen raised a hand as if to signal that he had nothing to worry about. “It’s fine. We’re just here to speak with my father. We’ll be out of your hair in just a little while.”

  “Ah.” The formally dressed man swallowed. He glanced over his shoulder like he was waiting for instructions from someone else. When he turned back to Rowen and the others, his expression was a little more resolute. “I’m really very sorry but, in that case, I’ll have to ask all of you to leave.” He must have thought better of that last part because he hastily added, “You’re welcome to come back in once you’ve spoken with your guests.” That part was directed at Desmond and Gaby.

  “They’re not our…” Gaby began to object but stopped. There were a lot of eyes on them by that point. She squirmed as if suddenly uncomfortable where she sat.